ThoughtWorks Studios has created Twist, an integrated development environment for functional testing of web and Java applications. The tool provides a single platform for documenting user stories, capturing executable requirements, developing, maintaining, running and reporting on functional tests. A free trial version of Twist is currently available for download and evaluation.

One of the main features of Twist is support for domain specific languages (DSLs). The idea is that engineers can create a relatively simple, English-like language, which business people can easily read, and perhaps even write. Martin Fowler, who works for ThoughtWorks, has had a lot to say about DSLs recently. The following screen capture shows how the lines of DSL, which appear as a bulleted list, map to the underlying test automation.

Twist uses tagging to help organize tests. It is possible to run subsets of tests, by filtering based on the tags associated with the tests. The tags associated with a test might indicate:

Type of test runs which should include the test - Regression, smoke, performance

Feature or functional area

Release

Platform

The product also includes reporting. When a test fails, twist provides a report that shows the entire failing scenario, a screen shot of the application under test, when the test failed, and a complete stack trace of failure reasons.

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